Tag Archives: Star Trek

This movie is about heroes. The people who sign up to serve their country in war and in peace, and risk their lives for others. The women who wait. The men who avoid panicking, and fight against the odds to keep their sinking ship intact until rescue.

Yet the strongest person in the film is the fiance, the girl who barges in to tell the Coast Guard commander to bring her man back. And also the Coast Guard widow, who packs her young kids in the car during a storm to take food to the community center for the survivors, if there are any.

Casey Affleck plays chief engineer Ray Sybert, an introvert who would rather tinker with his dials and engines than lead a crew. Yet he must, and reluctantly rises to the challenge of confronting much stronger personalities to do what must be done to save the ship.

Chris Pine plays Bernie Webber of the Coast Guard, a shy man who lives in the shadow of his big brother’s heroics. He leads a crew of four to almost certain death, knowing he is the only chance the stranded men have. He can barely make eye contact, he is so shy.

Chris Pine is known for playing larger than life characters, so it is really fun to see him act out such a submissive character.

As my teenaged daughter has not seen any of the other Star Trek movies, or any of the TV series, I wondered if she would enjoy the movie. So, I prepped her by telling her basic character descriptions, such as that Chekov has a Russian accent, and that Spock has pointy ears because he is part alien.